Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Final practice

Kvyat is out on track after completing just two laps so far. I'm not entirely sure what the problem was but he has yet to set a time.

by Laurence Edmondson11/28/2015 10:39:49 AM

@Keith: Depends on who is doing the tangling. This is the same Mercs who got away with 2013's test-gate! I would say this will be an interesting off-track battle to say the least.

by Siddhesh11/28/2015 10:41:23 AM

Will Haas have a veto like the current teams?

by Phil, Maidenhead11/28/2015 10:41:49 AM

@Phil,Maidenhead: Only Ferrari has a veto. It will have a place on the F1 Commission like the other teams but not on the Strategy Group.

by Laurence Edmondson11/28/2015 10:42:19 AM

We're getting close to the time when super-soft tyres are bolted on and drivers go for quick laps. Just Vettel and Sainz out on track at the moment as the other teams fettle their set-ups in the garage.

by Laurence Edmondson11/28/2015 10:43:34 AM

apart from the mercs which team has the best chance to score podium this weekend ?

by Salman11/28/2015 10:43:37 AM

@Salman: Ferrari. I don't think we saw their true pace during Friday practice as they appeared to focus on race pace over qualifying.

by Laurence Edmondson11/28/2015 10:44:07 AM

Problem is if Ferrari ever took the nuclear option of leaving f1, it kills f1's brand value more than ferrari's. They always have that knife to put at throats of things get too dicey

by Keith11/28/2015 10:44:29 AM

Rosberg is the first to leave the pits on super-softs. He has a 0.307s disadvantage to Hamilton on the softs, will he be able to reverse that on the super-softs?

by Laurence Edmondson11/28/2015 10:45:32 AM

We should find out quite soon as Hamilton has also left the pits on the super-softs. One of the big challenges here is to stop the rear tyres overheating in the final sector of the lap when the track gets tighter and twistier. Part of that comes down to how they condition them on the outlap and how they use them in the first two sectors.

by Laurence Edmondson11/28/2015 10:46:38 AM

Not saying this is anything remotely close to that scale, but Ferrari is never going to lose a huge argument in the end..

by Keith11/28/2015 10:47:05 AM

Rosberg goes faster in the first sector but can only match Hamilton in the second sector...

by Laurence Edmondson11/28/2015 10:48:25 AM

He goes fastest overall with a 142.196, 0.882s faster than Hamilton, who is not on a particularly fast lap at this stage...

by Laurence Edmondson11/28/2015 10:49:03 AM

Hamilton does not improve but is now going for his quick lap...

by Laurence Edmondson11/28/2015 10:49:26 AM

Mistake from Hamilton at Turn 5 again. He runs wide, dirties his tyres and rejoins.

by Laurence Edmondson11/28/2015 10:49:53 AM

A replay shows Hamilton took way too much kerb in Turn 4 and struggled to slow it enough to make Turn 5 without running wide. Aggressive if nothing else.

by Laurence Edmondson11/28/2015 10:50:47 AM

So, Hamilton is now on his third lap on these super-softs. Can he finally hook a lap together?

by Laurence Edmondson11/28/2015 10:51:25 AM

@LE: Do they put a heat cycle into the tires and then use them later as they sometimes do in NASCAR?

by Don Hopings11/28/2015 10:51:48 AM

@DonHopings: They used to. Less so, as far as I am aware, with the Pirellis.

by Laurence Edmondson11/28/2015 10:52:02 AM

One thing that turns off a lot of my friends, especially us gals, is that F1 is more and more technical and less and less about real guys with big balls. Is it going to continue this way?

by Mary-Lou11/28/2015 10:52:12 AM

@Mary-Lou: The plan is to change that in 2017, but its the engineers who are making the changes...

by Laurence Edmondson11/28/2015 10:52:34 AM

Hamilton improves to go 0.281s off Rosberg, who just set a 1:41.856 on his second attempt despite a slower first sector time.

by Laurence Edmondson11/28/2015 10:53:29 AM

Ricciardo is third fastest and 0.870s off Rosberg.

by Laurence Edmondson11/28/2015 10:55:34 AM

A replay shows that Hamilton came up behind Rosberg during his hot lap and got held up. I doubt much will come of it, but it's worth keeping in mind given the gap between the two.

by Laurence Edmondson11/28/2015 10:56:16 AM

Vettel is third fastest now on a 1:42.185, 0.329s off Rosberg. Perez is fourth and 0.592s off the pace. An impressive lap from the Force India driver.

by Laurence Edmondson11/28/2015 10:57:15 AM

Raikkonen is 0.795s off and fifth fastest.

by Laurence Edmondson11/28/2015 10:59:14 AM

There's the chequered flag. Rosberg finishes the session at the top ahead of Hamilton and Vettel. It's tight, but we didn't see the cleanest of laps from Hamilton in this session. Don't forget that the conditions will be much cooler for qualifying too, so that will change track and car characteristics.

by Laurence Edmondson11/28/2015 11:01:25 AM

Thanks for joining us. We'll be back for more live commentary ahead of the final qualifying session of the season this evening.